She wore white to the wedding and then ran off with the groom

We were at my beautiful sister’s wedding reception. She had just married a man I didn’t particularly like because he didn’t treat her as she deserved.

So, I guess you could say I wasn’t in the most celebratory of moods.

Of course, I hid my attitude in front of my sister. I gave an award-worthy speech as the maid of honour. I played my role well because that’s what you do.

But then – this woman – a total stranger – tipped me over the edge.

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She crossed a line

I walked back into the reception hall after being in the garden with guests and saw it immediately.

A woman was sitting in my sister’s seat at the bridal table. She was not family, nor a friend of my sister. She was animatedly – and very familiarly – talking to my new brother-in-law.

How disrespectful. No one should sit in the bridal seat apart from the bride. Especially as she was making the rounds, speaking to guests, while her husband should be doing the same. Not entertaining some woman my sister didn’t know, in her seat at her wedding.

As I began to stride towards the table, I noticed something worse.

She was wearing a shoestring strapped, slinky satin white number.

Her extremely poor form didn’t deserve any respect from me.

“That’s my sister’s seat,” I said, looking at her directly.

She didn’t flinch. My brother-in-law also didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know who you are, but you shouldn’t attend a wedding wearing white and then sit in the bride’s seat when it’s not your wedding,” I continued.

By now, the rest of the bridal group and some other guests were looking at us.

The woman, without acknowledging me, got up and said to my brother-in-law, “I’ll speak to you later.”

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It took all my restraint not to retort, “Oh no you bloody won’t.”

As she left, my sister was walking back to her seat.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I just reminded her that was your seat.”

We left it at that

Later, my parents told me to “control myself” and “not be so emotional”.

“Just leave it,” my dad advised.

“Don’t be aggressive,” my mum said.

But I knew in my heart something was not right. It wasn’t just blatant rudeness and lack of social grace.

The woman’s familiarity with my brother-in-law at his wedding in my sister’s seat was not right. Even I wouldn’t have done that as maid of honour.

The distinct lack of respect for my sister in the wearing of white also galled me.

After some digging, I discovered from other guests this woman was a work colleague of my sister’s new husband.

It was the first time she and my sister were meeting.

“I rest my case,” I thought to myself. He’d kept them apart.

My sister and I never spoke about the incident until years later. I hadn’t wanted to raise it to upset her. I was fairly sure she’d dismiss my concerns, as she was so in love with her husband.

Sadly, I’d been right to be concerned

We discovered two years later the woman and my brother-in-law had been having an affair.

In some ways, I was furious with myself for not speaking up. All my sister had now was a marriage of two years that had been a lie.

My beautiful sister was heartbroken but determined to make it work. I wish she hadn’t, because her husband never changed.

But I finally could do what I didn’t do at the wedding – tell this home wrecker what I thought of her behaviour.

I called her at her workplace. I told her my sister knew about the affair, and that she was a terrible person. I also told her all my sister’s friends knew.

But that last bit wasn’t true. My devastated sister never told anyone else apart from me.

I wish I’d made a bigger fuss at the wedding about that woman being in that seat so that more people could have seen. And spoken to my sister openly about my concerns.

I wish I’d warned my sister about trusting her husband from the very moment they got married.

This is why wise people advise, ‘Trust your instincts’.

This post originally appeared on Kidspot and has been republished with permission